Friday, 6 September 2013

A Builder's Approach to Doing So Much With So Little Time

For me, the first week of September represents the beginning of school and an intense period of work. This year, that includes webinars, conference workshops and client engagements in Canada, US and UK.

My biggest challenge is that I have eight distinct speaking commitments within a two-week delivery period starting in late September. The topic of change is the same but the objectives, audiences and formats are different. How am I going to create so many sessions in such a short period of time?

I have decided to use a builder's approach to doing so much with so little time:

Start with a macro view of all projects - take a big picture view across all projects to identify similarities and differences

Aggregate common activities - it is more effective and efficient to complete like tasks

Draw out the work- blueprints aren't Word text documents, they are pictures

Reuse blueprints - reuse component parts if they meet the specifications of the job

Test your work with a peer - quick draft reviews take less time and are more productive than long solo design sessions

Compartmentalize delivery - the second presentation is irrelevant to the first audience so meet the first deadline first

Capture learnings, then move on - document what worked and didn't and then move on to the next deadline - the clock is ticking

I am at the blueprinting phase of my work and already feel a sense of momentum. My projects are informing each other, and the thinking is consistent among them. Each one is customized but with a common foundation. It feels like the builder analogy is working.